Arizona’s famously tough stance on illegal immigration was on full display at the US Supreme Court on Wednesday, as the state’s top appellate lawyer urged the justices to uphold a statute that threatens to shut down any business that intentionally hires illegal immigrants.

Based on questions during oral argument, Arizona may fare better at the high court than it did last summer when a federal judge in Phoenix ruled that major parts of SB 1070 clashed with federal immigration law and were thus preempted and invalid. That decision is pending before a federal appeals court in San Francisco.

The case before the high court on Wednesday involves an older law, the Legal Arizona Workers Act. The 2007 law outlaws knowingly or intentionally hiring an illegal immigrant. Employers that repeatedly violate the statute may lose their license – the business equivalent of the death penalty.